Matt Cohen On His Return to Supernatural, Bringing Up Baby, and HTGAWM!

Like the entire fandom, we were beyond thrilled to see Matt Cohen back on Supernatural this season – and in the incredible episode, ‘Baby’ no less! We’ve known Matt since his first convention appearance over six years ago. The very first convention he did, Matt made sure to hug every single fan who asked him a question. Kathy and I turned to each other and said oh, we have to talk to this guy – he gets it. We need to include him in ‘Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls’.

We did, and we did. In fact, Matt is even quoted in our academic book about fandom and Supernatural, ‘Fandom At The Crossroads’. From our very first interview with him, we loved what he had to say. And now, as 2015 comes to an end, it’s as true as ever. We sat down with Matt at the last con of the year, Pascon, to find out about his return to Supernatural and his other exciting role on the hit series How To Get Away With Murder.

Pascon was a true SPN Family affair for both fandom and cast, and so the green room where we joined Matt was less a quiet space for an interview and more a family room. When this cast gets together at a con, it’s like a family reunion – joyful, unpredictable, and noisy. And really kinda heartwarming. Alaina Huffman had come by to spend some time with the other actors, since this con was in most of the actors’ backyards. Matt was having some lunch when I joined them. And sharing his with Alaina, as family does.

Matt: (laughing) It’s like sleep away camp back here.

There followed a conversation about conventions and eating too much and how much fun they have when they all get together that sometimes instead of eating too much, Matt actually forgets to eat.

Lynn: It’s pretty hectic, and you do cons like every other weekend! But it really does feel like family.

Matt: Dude, this is my family for sure. I’ve got literally one living family member outside Supernatural, you know? These are my people, man. The boys, this, this is what I call home. Okay, let’s talk. You know me, I’m gonna finish this coffee and talk your ear off!

Lynn: I like it when you talk my ear off. Let’s talk about Supernatural first. So how did you find out you were coming back?

Matt: They called me a few months before and I filmed it in August, I think it was. I was filming How To Get Away With Murder when I filmed it.

Matt: They called and asked if I was available. And OF COURSE I’m available for Supernatural, I’ve always said, for the last five years, since I’ve been on the show, I’ve said that I wanted to get back on the show for the fans’ sake so bad that I’d do it for free – I’d fly myself up there and put myself up.

Lynn: I’m glad you didn’t have to do that!

Matt: Yeah but, you know what I mean? This has become such a part of my life and developed me as a man and as a father, as a husband, as a friend. I owe these people. They want me back, I want to be back. So of course I was available. I didn’t get a script or anything but I was like yes, I don’t care if I have words, dialogue, I’m a featured extra…

Lynn: Just put me in!

Matt: Yeah, put me in there! Little did I know what I was on board for. One of the awesomest episodes I could ever imagine.

Lynn: OMG Yes!!

Matt: By one of the coolest effing directors on the planet, Thomas Wright.

Lynn: He’s done a lot of Supernatural now.

Matt: Yeah, and he had such a good time up there, he was like yeah I’m gonna cancel all the other shows and I want to work more on Supernatural.

Lynn: Everyone who has anything to do with this show feels that way, I think — you get sucked into it.

Matt: I’m telling you, it’s a lifestyle choice.

Lynn: [laughing] It is!

Matt: So yeah, that happened and then I booked HTGAWM and I started filming that afterwards. So when they finally gave me the dates to come up for Supernatural, it was the same time – so we had both showrunners on the phone, Jim Michaels with the HTGAWM people.

Lynn: Isn’t that always the way, everything happens at once?

Matt: But they had to make it work, because I signed and basically verbally said yes, I’ll be available whenever Supernatural needed me. And kinda didn’t tell HTGAWM that we could work it out, and they did because they’re the best in television. Supernatural and HTGAWM, the people who work on those shows, of course they’re gonna make it work.

Lynn: They respect each other, I would think. They’re both great shows.

Matt: And if your actor is working on other stuff that’s quality, it’s great publicity for you on the other show. Jim Michaels came through big. If you do write about this, really a massive thank you to Jim. He’s been a good buddy of mine for years now, but he bent and made necessary what had to happen for me to do both shows and for that you’re grateful as an actor. You know, guest spots on prime time shows are hard to come by.

Lynn: Especially that one, it’s like on fire right now.

Matt: Yeah, and those people – those kids on HTGAWM are Ivy League educated kids, they’re so honest and true and they just wanna put out an awesome product. I was astounded at the professionalism from those guys. Not that I thought it would be anything less, for a show headed by Viola Davis.

Lynn: True.

Matt: But the kids are so kick-ass. They’re all super smart, all from great schools and backgrounds. And the acting chops are ridiculous on that show. They are all stars, huge stars. And they deserve every bit of it, because they’re also great people. Kind and welcoming, and you don’t get that a lot. You know, I used to talk about Supernatural being the warmest welcome I ever got on a set. The crew, everybody, the locals, coming into Vancouver, everything, I just loved it.

Lynn: Everybody says that about Supernatural. I think literally everyone we’ve ever interviewed who has worked on the show.

Matt: Same thing on HTGAWM. It’s the only other project I’ve worked on, and I hate to say this and I don’t want to make it sound like other projects I worked on were not a nice time, because they were a nice time, they just – Supernatural was the warmest acceptance I ever got and HTGAWM is right up there with Supernatural. A great crew, the showrunner, and the whole Shonda-land, you know, she’s kicking ass.

Lynn: She seems really cool.

Matt: And they’re taking risks, you know? They’re like, F you traditional tv, this is what’s gonna happen! This is gonna be this sexy, this is gonna be this backstabby, I don’t care what you say. I’m glad that people are responding to her voice because I think she’s rad.

Lynn: She’s really breaking the mold for women.

Matt: Yes, OMG! So many strong women on one show? Holy smokes! I’m such a fan. I like still take myself out of it, I can’t believe that I’m on the show! Like I watch it now.

Lynn: Had you watched it before you got cast?

Matt: I never had, I don’t watch television that much. So I booked it, and I was able to just watch one episode before I started work the next day. That night I went home and binge watched episode one through fourteen.

Lynn: That sounds like me when I discovered Supernatural.

Matt: Because I had seen the finale and I was like, what?! I was cross eyed, I was so confused. So then I watched the whole show, me and my wife and my baby watched every episode.

Lynn: (laughing) Did Macklin enjoy it?

Matt: He had no idea what was happening.

Lynn: Well, of course not!

Matt: But I sat down and watched it and man, good writing, fresh writing, and edgy, crazy, unpredictable, just a great time. The only other work experience I can compare to Supernatural. That being said, I will say that from a performance aspect of seeing a final product, this ‘Baby’ episode of Supernatural is the single proudest scene I’ve ever done.

Jared and Matt filming in ‘Baby’

Lynn: It’s one of my favorite bits of television ever.

Matt: I was — thank you, by the way. I was astounded at the direction and the editing and the product, and Jared and me and our thing together happened and it was just… different.

Lynn: It was powerful. A powerful scene.

Matt: And I can chalk that up to a couple of things. Being exhausted – when you’re exhausted, honesty comes out of you. Brutal honesty is in your face. I shot HTGAWM all night on a Wednesday night in LA and then I was due on set 8 am Thursday in Vancouver. I was done at 3 am, went home, took a shower, they picked me up for LAX at 4 am.

Lynn: Oh no!

Matt: I got on the two hour flight, slept for maybe 45 minutes, you know, by the time you get up and level off…

Lynn: And it’s not really good sleep.

Matt: Right, it’s not deep sleep, it’s that sort of I’m losing my mind feeling. Land, go straight from the airport to getting a work permit, waiting in an hour line, waiting through customs and all that. Finally get in, they take me not to a hotel, but to set. I show up on set, with this bag — that’s all the clothes I had in there — straight to set, Jim Michaels greeted me, we talked about a couple of things, then right into wardrobe, right into signing contracts, right into Jared’s trailer to get down to the dialogue. And I’m not remotely down on it, but I had just come off of like eight pages of another show with a way different character. So I felt really confused on top of being tired.

Lynn: Well, yeah.

Matt: And I had way too much coffee in my body, it was all I could do to just caffeinate caffeinate caffeinate to keep going. Next thing you know, we walk on set, it’s about noon, and we start off on the scene. And Thomas Wright is just a cowboy, just legendary.

Tom Wright with Donald Painchaud filming ‘Baby’

Lynn: Had you ever met him before?

Matt: Never met him before, but Rich had told me all about him. Rich is a big fan, he knows a lot about the directing world, so I was super excited. Jared and I went back and forth, back and forth, about our wives and families and babies and lives to sort of settle into the place that we needed to be in, and then we got down to the dialogue and there it was, you know? Thomas put – I can’t even tell you how many camera angles were put up for the shot – to get that piece. I mean, we did the scene for like four or five hours, maybe six hours, one scene.

Lynn: So wait a minute, you filmed all night, had no sleep, went right there and then filmed for like six hours straight?

Matt: And then I wrapped at 6 pm, started heading into the city to my hotel and forgot that I left my wedding ring, so I went back to set to get it and finally got to my hotel at 7:30. I’d promised Jim Michaels I wanted to take him out to dinner because he did so much for me. So straight to my hotel room, put a hat on over my hair and makeup and everything, changed my tee shirt, Jim and I went out and shared a cocktail and some stories and some food, and we ended up staying out til like 12 or 1…

Lynn: I’m feeling tired just thinking about it.

Matt: I then went back to the hotel and slept for like 4 or 5 hours and then caught a flight to the Minneapolis convention and went right into karaoke.

Lynn: You did seem really tired at that convention…

Matt: And you know what? The whole time, I kept saying – you know, being a new father now, you feel so lucky when work comes, and as an actor you don’t know when the next paycheck is coming, or what if something happens tomorrow and I can’t act anymore? I lose my voice, god forbid I have an accident, so I clearly go thank you for this, and I can get through this. And I just kept telling myself, you know what? You’re gonna be tired – it’s not the last time you’re gonna be tired. Keep in mind that I’m shooting HTGAWM at night time, which is the only few hours that I get to sleep because in the daytime I’ve got a newborn baby, so I’m doing diapers, putting him down for a nap, diapers, trying to do house chores…

Lynn: And also, going into this, you’re already chronically sleep deprived simply because you have a new baby.

Matt: OMG my wife and I did not sleep for the first five months of his life for more than 2 or 3 hours a night. He was a colicky baby, he’s a very advanced baby – he’s about to walk and he just turned seven months.

Lynn: Woah, you’re in trouble!

Matt: He’s got six teeth already, he’s extremely advanced. So it’s been crazy, but I’m grateful – and if you feel anything but grateful, you don’t deserve it.

Lynn: It’s all wonderful, but crazy that it all happened at the same time.

Matt: And preceding Supernatural and HTGAWM, when my son was two weeks old, I booked a web series with Michele Trachtenberg called ‘Guidance’ which is airing now, it’s on Verizon’s Go 90 app and youtube channel. The show is getting like 500,000 hits a week.

Lynn: From Buffy! Why don’t I even know about this?

Matt: Yeah, check it out, and some really talented kids. I play like a nerdy schoolteacher, I’m kinda like the lighthearted character. It’s kinda heavy material about a guidance counselor dealing with some pictures of a young girl – it’s really interesting. Anna Mastro, great director. So I shot six episodes of that when my son was like two weeks to six weeks old. Which at that point, not only do I not know what I’m doing as a human, but I have a new life…

Lynn: Well sure, you don’t know what you’re doing yet as a dad…

Matt: I was clueless! Absolutely clueless. And the whole time, conventions. When my son turned two months old, I went to Australia with these guys for a week. And we live in California, we have no family there, so we had to fly my wife’s sister in.

Lynn: I was going to say, your poor wife.

Matt: OMG, my wife is my hero! First of all, she’s a hundred pounder, and she gave birth to a ten pound baby with a fifteen inch head with no meds for 80 hours of labor. I’ll never do anything that good, ever.

Matt: It’s something I can’t even tell you how much I look forward to doing it. And we’re right around the corner at this point. You know the backdrop for this, right? Rich and Rob and I have become great friends on this, and these guys have come up with this incredible comedic ridiculous play on life and our current situation, and I can’t wait to start shooting.

Lynn: I can’t wait to see it. Everyone can’t wait to see it!

Matt: All the scripts are written, they’re sending out the different perks to people, and I think it’s gonna be fantastic.

Lynn: And you’re in every episode.

Matt: [skeptical] That’s what they say.

Lynn: (to Richard, across the table) That’s what I heard.

Matt: We’ll see what happens, we’ll see what happens. They might write me out in the first episode. The whole bus-comes-by-and-takes-out-Matt-Cohen…

Lynn: Let’s hope not! Okay, back to Supernatural. So when you were filming for all those hours with Jared, tell me about that.

Matt: They wanted the episode to be very much the car, that you’re experiencing these situations through the car.

Lynn: Yes, the pov of the car – it was a great idea!

Matt: You know, and things have been shot like that before, interior and exterior of the car where you’re looking through a window or a back seat…

Lynn: Not a whole episode though.

Matt: And there was a lot more – when I watched the scene of me and Jared, there were so many shots, there’s tight shots and loose shots and shots of my hands and shots of his hands…

Lynn: And then they took all those different takes, and they’re juxtaposed.

Matt: And all those, every time, all those were different, take after take with different size lenses. It just was a lot of set ups. Not so much changing cameras, but basically three shots, like 2 cameras through the side, one through the front, and then we switched all that to Jared’s side to do the same thing but we changed those lenses 3, 4, 5 times. Short lenses, long lenses, fisheye lenses…

Lynn (silently) Who knew there were so many types of lenses?

Matt: And then shot from the perspective of somebody in the back seat looking up at our silhouettes. It was just a ton of work. When you see the product you’re like holy smokes, it’s edited so seamlessly that you feel like it’s just a 45 second or a minute conversation.

Lynn: And really it was hours and hours! So when you do that, do you and Jared have to say those lines again and again, for all the different perspectives?

Matt: You do, you run through the whole scene. You rehearse it once or twice, and then you’ll start shooting and the director will make adjustments, take after take until he gets exactly what he wants. Maybe he wants a little more on this line, he wants a little smirk on that line, he wants to let your eyes tell the story on this line, and you just go and go and go and he takes bits and pieces and sizes. And what I mean by sizes is this or this or this [hand gestures], like closer or wider.

Lynn: Oh I see, yes, there were some really beautiful – excuse me for being shallow – but gorgeous shots of you in that car.

Matt: Listen, I am, like I said before — it’s my proudest piece of work, by far.

Lynn: And of Jared too, the two of you, the camera just loved you in that environment.

Matt: Thank you, I love close shots – it was shot very movie style, very intense drama movie style, when you see just the eye. I love to see wrinkles in a man’s eye, I love to see his eyes gloss over, you know – there’s a lot to be told if you shoot the eyes.

Lynn: Supernatural is expert at that – and you guys are expert at showing so much with just an expression. Once when we were interviewing Serge, he said that the men on this show were so good looking…

Matt: [nodding]

Lynn: That he could light them the way he would a beautiful woman.

Matt: Wow.

Lynn: I feel certain he lit you that same way.

Matt: They work their magic, you know? The scene was magic to me, it really was. When I saw it – I was nervous about it because I was so tired when I was there, I didn’t remember what happened. You know, you’re in the scene. I had called Robbie Thompson and was like, what do you want me to do here? Am I John, am I Michael, like who am I?

Lynn: Right, who are you?

[Our chat was before last week’s pivotal episode aired, so I really wasn’t sure….though I had my dire suspicisions…]

Matt: That’s a question that I can’t answer. And not because I don’t want to tell you, but because I don’t know! Because who I was portraying is I think somewhat of a secret.

[Damn, was it ever!!!]

Lynn: It definitely is, and I’m not trying to get you to tell me because I couldn’t blog it anyway, but did you have in your mind anyone specific?

(As if to avoid any chance of spoilers, the guys from Louden Swain, who had joined us in the green room a few minutes earlier, began to play guitar across the room, entertaining Alaina and Richard. Which made hearing this interview a very interesting challenge. But it’s hard to complain when the music is so beautiful)

Matt: I did and I didn’t. I realized it was a vision. When I read it, I thought that I could be Gabriel, Michael, God, or just a vision of young John. And I wanted all of that to come out.

Lynn: Because it did play very ambiguous, which was clearly how it was supposed to be.

Matt: Right. There are bits and pieces there that I personally made a choice to make myself try to portray Gabriel or try to portray God or try to portray Michael or…

Lynn: There are different times that you seem like each of them. Because I think that was the experience as a viewer, like oh it’s, oh no, maybe it’s…

Matt: And I did that in hopes of a future episode that maybe perhaps one of them will take my body. Maybe Richard’s character uses my body, or for God or John or Michael, or whatever. But I called Robbie when I got the script and I asked him, what do you want me to do with this? And he was like, what do you mean? I said, who am I, what am I – and he said, just play it honestly as young John when he was on the car lot the first time. And that’s kinda what he told me, go up there, have fun and just play it with that real honest naïveté, but you know, you’ve got a message and you want them to hear your message.

Lynn: I did think you were John in the beginning.

Matt as young John in the car lot

Matt: Well, the throwback line is from the episode, with Jensen in the diner, right? You look a little spooked.

Lynn: Yes, yes! And that was such a great moment, I loved that they called back to that.

Matt: Yeah. Robbie Thompson did a helluva job writing that episode. He’s another one, if you have to put his name in this.

Lynn: Of course I’m putting his name in this! I’m a Robbie fan.

Matt: He’s the greatest dude ever. So caring.

Lynn: He knows how I feel about this episode. I’ve already gushed to him about it. This show has a great group of writers.

Matt: They do. They really care about the show.

Lynn: And I feel like maybe – Jim Michaels has had a clue for a while –but I think the rest of them finally understand how important it is to have people the fandom already loves back. Like, don’t go out and find another actor who the fandom doesn’t have any emotional connection to if you can hire someone who the entire fandom is gonna go AHHHH!

Matt: Obviously I’m biased because I love the show, I love the characters that they let me play, and I love all the people who have played these other characters. I want them all back, I don’t want any new people on the show!

Lynn: [laughing]

Matt: But the truth of the matter is, they have to.

Lynn: Of course, but at a time like this, this was a perfect opportunity to bring you back.

Matt: And I was so taken aback that I was one of the only guest spots on that episode.

Lynn: Weren’t you the only one?

Matt: There were the girls who took the car.

Lynn: Oh right. I forgot about them because I didn’t have that emotional connection…

Matt: And the were vamp, when they cut the head off the were vamp, or what was Jensen’s line?

Matt: Yeah. Those boys have such chemistry now, their mistakes are hilarious.

Lynn: They do. It’s their chemistry that’s kept the show on the air all these years.

Matt: Couldn’t agree more.

Lynn: But I do think, having people back — like Briana has been back, Kim has been back.

Matt: Everybody’s coming back!

Lynn: In Season 11, you don’t know how much more time you have, so yeah!

(Alaina is now singing along with Louden Swain and Richard, guitars are playing, it sounds like we’re having an awesome concert in the middle of an interview…)

Lynn: So back to personal stuff just for a minute, how has it changed you, being a dad?

Matt: You know what? I’ve tried to be a good person before, but you have to be a good person to raise a child. I think my career is now moving at a far faster pace and the only thing I can chalk it up to is the baby fills the breadbasket. There’s a reason behind that – to try to attempt to be a good parent, you become so selfless. I do not matter, all that matters is my family. All I can think about is taking care of them, spending time with them, teaching them, my family not just my baby. But me, I’m last, I don’t put myself first anymore and I think for the first time in my life, it’s truly that. As an actor, it’s this self absorbed kind of business.

Lynn: You kind of have to be.

Matt: Yeah, I mean, our job is to see our faces onscreen. I don’t know how much more conceited you have to be to want to do that.

Lynn: I guess it could be seen as a little narcissistic.

Matt: We’re complete narcissists, every one of us. But having a baby, man, takes all that out of it. The long hair wasn’t planned; my kid liked my long hair when he was born, so I haven’t cut it. It has in turn booked me jobs; it booked me HTGAWM. The audition for HTGAWM, my motorcycle broke down on the way to the gym, I was dirty and greasy, I hadn’t shaved in like 3 or 4 days because my kid wasn’t sleeping, I hadn’t cut my hair. I looked rough. I walked in the room and it was the character.

Lynn: And you wouldn’t have looked like that otherwise.

Matt: Yep. Otherwise I would’ve been this clean cut thing. And things just keep happening. I just tested for something on Thursday this week which maybe I got maybe I didn’t, I won’t know til the end of next week, but it’s a big deal, a very different spectrum than this fan base could ever imagine me in, but it’s awesome. Again, they wanted this slightly dangerous looking bad boy but with a good boy smile and the hair and the not shaving, it’s a different person, and so that’s the person that I’m selling now.

Lynn: Well, it’s definitely working for you.

Matt: Schmelke had to shoot a new head shot for me because I look so different than my clean cut pretty boy headshot! We shot like ten outside and had only a few minutes to do it. It’s all this chain of events happening.

Lynn: It seems kinda meant to be.

Matt: It does. I’m so ready to work all the time. Or to be a stay at home dad and let my wife work all the time. Whatever it is. She’s back in the business and getting out and auditioning and things are going well for her, so either way I don’t care. You know what the other thing is? Being a dad, I don’t need anything from anybody ever again. I don’t need anything from a casting director or a director or a producer. I don’t have to sit down at a meeting and pretend to be something that I think you want me to be. I don’t need it. I have a wife that I’m crazy in love with and a baby that I’m crazy in love with, they’re both healthy and they both love me back. I need nothing.

Lynn: And sometimes that’s when stuff comes at you.

Matt: I know! It’s like a spiritual thing that’s happening in my life right now. The more tired I am, and the more broken down I am, and the more I wanna cry and crawl into a corner, I just keep going, the light shines brighter the next hour and brighter the next hour. And I sit there and I’m like, why am I so lucky, and why is this happening? I have no answer except to keep trying as hard as I can to give everything to everybody. My friends, my family, to you, to the fans, go go go. I’m 33 years old, I’m healthy, I’m strong, I’ve got a lot of love to give.

Lynn: You are a really giving person and you’ve been through a lot of shit and you know what it is to need and how it feels when someone steps up and gives.

Matt: I’m so thankful for it. Every day that I’m given a gift, I wanna give a thousand gifts to people. To repay the universe, whoever, whatever you believe in. My wife has always been great, I’ve always been fortunate, through hardships or not, but the last seven months have been astounding. It seems like someone is standing behind me saying, we’re gonna help this kid out.

Lynn: How does your dad feel about being a grandfather?

Matt: He’s ecstatic. He’s trying to sell his business, he wants to be in California to be around his grandson. He’s in Hollywood Florida.

Lynn: Oh, the wrong Hollywood. That must be hard.

Matt: Yeah, it’s hard for him because we have no family. His parents are passed, my grandparents. It’s just me and him and my half brother and sister. So my grandfather played a huge role in raising me, so my dad wants to play a huge role.

Lynn: Since he knows how important that can be. I remember when your grandfather died, how much he meant to you.

Matt: Yeah, it shaped me, who I am. I fall asleep every night and I see my grandfather’s face. I stare out airplane windows into the sky wondering what’s beyond it and I feel something.

Lynn: I remember how he kinda reached out to you after he passed.

Matt: And it’s hard to make sense of that, I was so emotional in that moment, like did it really happen? Did I imagine it? If my wife wasn’t with me, I wouldn’t have believed that it happened. But why would we be so crazy not to believe, and to only believe in like iPads. There’s something else out there, who the hell knows what it is? This is a great big supernatural world, I don’t care what anyone says. Whether it’s God and Jesus from the Bible or aliens building the pyramids, whatever it is.

Lynn: But it’s something.

Matt: And honestly, I love being on this Earth, but I’m not scared to go find out when I leave this place. I’ve gained so much peace in the last seven months. I get it now. I’m not scared of anything that I used to be. I saw my wife go through all that…it’s crazy, it’s different. My soul and my heart are different. Life’s so much harder but so much easier.

Lynn; it’s richer, isn’t it?

Matt: So much richer.

Lynn: You were there when the baby was born, right?

Matt: Yeah. She labored in the house for 70 or 80 hours and then at the last second the cord got wrapped around his arm so we had to go to the hospital. He was a huge baby, 22 inches long and 10 pounds. I look at him and my wife sitting on the floor playing and I’m like, I’m so sorry.

Lynn: [laughing, but also wincing…]

Matt: I made such a giant baby. But she’s so kickass about anything, she’s the best mom and wife, so supportive. I don’t know how I got so lucky, my life could’ve been very different. Pre her, I was a different human.

Lynn: I didn’t know you before her.

Matt: Nobody did, that’s the thing. I was a gypsy, a cannon just waiting to shoot myself in whatever direction. I never wanted marriage, I never wanted a baby. Fell in love with a girl who wanted a baby. It just happened. And then all of a sudden, you fucking want it! I don’t know if we’ll have more kids, but I can’t say – I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what my plan is. I have no plan.

Matt: So you probably saw the strawberry one, his first time trying strawberries…

(Matt plays the video of Macklin not entirely sure he likes the whole strawberry thing…)

Lynn: Hahahaha omg he’s so cute!

Matt: And he loves strawberries now. And then there’s these little laugh attacks that he has…

Lynn: [Dead from the cute]

Matt: I mean, it’s so funny because I’m like the last one – Osric doesn’t have a kid, but basically almost everyone else on Supernatural does. And everyone was always showing me these pictures and videos and I would be like oh yeah, your kid’s so cute, but you never really know what it means. And now when I see a video, like I’ll sit on the airplane – whenever I’m traveling to a con, I take a two or three minute video that I can just watch. I’ll just sit there watching it over and over for like a half hour. It’s the best feeling to know that – I can’t even explain it.

Lynn: I totally get it. Here, look at this. [pulls out kid photos]

Matt: Awww.

Alaina: Here, look at this. [pulls out kid photos]

Matt: OMG her kids, they are so cute. I have to say, this cast all has amazing children. All of you guys are great parents.

We were joined then by two more of my favorite people, Osric Chau and Ruth Connell, who chatted about the chapters they’ve written for the new book we’ve got coming out next year.

Ruth: You wrote a chapter, Matt?

Matt: I did. 3000 words. I tried to be honest. I’m not a writer, but I put my heart in it.

He did. They all did. It’s a book about how Supernatural has changed lives – sometimes even saved lives. Every single chapter – some by cast and some by fans – has a powerful message. We are all excited to share it with you soon!

For once, I actually remembered to take some photos for this article before we ended, and pulled out my camera.

Matt: What should I do?

Lynn: Whatever you want…

Alaina: Do a headstand!

[Alaina showed off some fabulous yoga moves, which impressed all of us. We then got into a discussion of the benefits of meditation and inversion, and how they’re going the change the world.]

Matt: Okay, I’m gonna do a headstand on the wall for my pictures.

Lynn: You are? Like, for real?

[Yep. For real.]

Osric: Oh man, look at those arms!

Alaina: Quick, take it before his face turns red!

When the woman who played Abbadon tells you what to do? You do it.

Bonus Osric headstand!

No, I didn’t do one. I’d still be stuck there against the wall if I had.

Have to say, I would like nothing better than to see Matt Cohen back on Supernatural again. Now that we know it was Lucifer talking to Sam all along, I went back to watch that scene – and it so works. Matt is channeling John Winchester, no doubt about that, but there’s also an undertone to that entire conversation that makes it ominous. Kudos again to Matt and Jared and Tom Wright and the entire crew for that amazing scene. Damn, how many more weeks til a new episode??

Stay tuned for more Hellatus busters to get us through! And don’t forget to pick up your copy of ‘Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls’ and ‘Fan Phenomena Supernatural’ for a holiday treat or a gift for an SPNFamily friend. Links are on this page to check them out.

Related

What a wonderful interview. So much fun to learn the whole filming happened before Minncon, which I was at. I remember how he came late. Lynn you are so lucky to get to do these interviews. I would kill to be a fly on the wall in that green room!!!! Love this cast. They are all like my adopted kids. I feel pride with all of their accomplishments. Is that weird? You’re the psychologist.

I so appreciate all of the insight from your interviews. Matt was so honest about his changes. But all of us that are parents totally get it. Kids open up a whole new world we didn’t see before. I think that’s part of the reason Jared and Jensen are so much more open now as well. Jensen pretty much said as much.

Fan Phenomena: Supernatural on Amazon

Fangasm on Amazon

Fandom at the Crossroads on Amazon

Fan Culture: Theory/Practice on Amazon

Our Story

This is the story of two college professors who fell hard for a show called Supernatural. Obsession, devotion, fascination, call it what you will. We decided to figure out what was going on with us by writing a book on fandom from the fans' perspective. As academics do, we hit the libraries and internet, accumulating stacks of articles and hundreds of pages of research. We typed and revised and theorized, quoted and footnoted, and ended up with an academic text crammed full of the current scholarship on fandom.

This is not that book.

Somewhere along the line, the research took a back seat to the road trip as we traveled across the US and Canada interviewing the show’s fans, as well as the actors and directors, writers, journalists, bloggers, convention organizers, significant others and insignificant hangers-on. Fangasm! is the story of that year-long roadtrip -- the surprises we never saw coming, the secrets uncovered, the behind-the-scenes insights, the heartwarming and heartbreaking fan confessions. It’s also the story of our shared obsession and the friendship that sustains us through 4 am line-ups, overtaxed credit cards, canceled flights and airport camp-outs, and of course the occasional accusations of insanity.

Order Fangasm now from Amazon by clicking the link at the top of this page.

Media Coverage

Check out the February 2016 issue of Nylon Magazine - we're quoted in an article about fandom!

What Else We’re Writing

We've written several articles for Supernatural Magazine, including features on the fan convention experience, and behind the scenes on the set. We have also written the academic version of this story, Fandom at the Crossroads: Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships , and edited a collection on fan culture, Fan Culture: Theory/Practice.
You can also order our book Fan Phenomena: Supernatural, with chapters by cast, crew and fans of Supernatural. Check out what Misha Collins and Richard Speight, Jr. have to say in their insightful (and amusing) chapters. Click the links at the top of the page to order.

And coming in May 2017, look for an exciting new book - Family Don't End With Blood: Cast and Fans on How Supernatural Changed Lives with powerful chapters by ten Supernatural actors including Jared Padalecki!

Kathy is also the Principal Editor and Lynn on the Editorial Board of The Journal Of Fandom Studies, published by Intellect. The most recent issue is available now.